Unrecorded Potawatomi artist
Prescription stick
1860-1880
carved and engraved maple wood
Museum purchase with funds provided by a grant from Lilly Endowment Inc.
2019.2.315
About the Artist
Unrecorded Potawatomi artist
Historic or customary items (such as the ones in this exhibition) were separated from their original makers and communities, resulting in a difficult, challenging history of collecting and exhibiting Native art. An unintended anonymity within Native art has occurred because the names of artists were not recorded at the time their art was collected. Past anthropologists and collectors were more interested in acquiring the items; the artists’ names were not a priority for them. Despite this error in judgement, these artists were known by his/her/their community. We acknowledge this relationship in our text labels that read “unrecorded artist of”.
Back to Artwork Details